Clayton Kershaw was perfect for six innings and finished with a three-hitter in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ 3-0 victory over the New York Mets. Kershaw fanned 11 and now has a string of 29 straight scoreless innings after his 11th career shutout. He has fanned 38 without a walk in his last three outings. Kershaw is 8-6. He didn’t allow a baserunner until Curtis Granderson’s leadoff single in the seventh. Bartolo Colon was the tough-luck loser, falling to 9-9. Colon allowed just one run on five hits in his eight innings.
In other MLB action:
— Francisco Liriano struck out 11 in six innings in pitching the Pittsburgh Pirates over the Washington Nationals 7-3 in the opener of a four-game series at PNC Park. Andrew McCutchen had two hits, including his 13th home run, a two-run shot in the eighth. Pedro Alvarez and Francisco Cervelli also went deep for the Bucs.
— In a makeup game involving teams with the best records in baseball, St. Louis held off Kansas City 4-3. Matt Carpenter and Randal Grichuk both hit two-run homers. The Cardinals maintained their six-game lead over the Pirates in the NL Central.
— Jeff Samardzija, the subject of trade rumors and perhaps pitching for the final time in a Chicago uniform, allowed one run in eight innings and Melky Cabrera homered from both sides of the plate, in the White Sox’ 8-1 victory over the Cleveland Indians.
— Jacoby Elsbury drove in four runs and Chase Headley added a three-run double to pace the Yankees to a 9-3 win over Baltimore. The AL East-leading Yankees completed a three-game sweep of their divisional rivals and opened a seven game lead over the Orioles.
— Jose Altuve homered with one out in the bottom of the ninth, the last of his four hits, and the Houston Astros beat Boston 5-4. That’s the eighth straight loss for the Red Sox.
— Arizona defeated Milwaukee 8-3. Zack Godley struck out seven in six shutout innings in his major league debut.
— Martin Prado scored on a Tyler Ross wild pitch to break a scoreless tie and start a four-run rally in the sixth inning to give Miami a 4-0 win over San Diego. Tom Koehler and two relievers combined on a three-hitter.
— Ervin Santana pitched eight innings of four-hit ball against his former team to lead Minnesota Twins past the L.A. Angels 3-0. Santana struck out seven and didn’t issue a walk to follow up throwing 7 2/3 scoreless innings in Oakland last week. The Twins snapped a four-game skid and the Angels’ seven-game winning streak. Trevor Plouffe hit a three-run homer in the fourth inning.
— Mike Zunino’s RBI double in the 12th inning gave Seattle a 3-2 win over Detroit. Chris Taylor was able to score all the way from first base after outfielder Yoenis Cespedes misread the bounce off the fence.
— Russell Martin homered, doubled and drove in three runs, Josh Donaldson went deep against his former team and the Toronto Blue Jays powered past the Oakland Athletics 5-2.
— Tom Koehler threw seven strong innings, combining with relievers Steve Cishek and Mike Dunn on a three-hitter that lifted the Miami Marlins to a 4-0 win over the San Diego Padres on last night. That’s the 14th shutout for San Diego, it’s major league high.
— Zack Godley struck out seven in six shutout innings in his major league debut, leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to an 8-3 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers last night. The 25-year-old right-hander was called up from Double-A before last night’s game and held the Brewers to four hits.